


a little more bite (a little less bark)

by DreamBrother



Series: a little less conversation [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23385154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamBrother/pseuds/DreamBrother
Summary: Danny couldn't stay at Steve's house forever. Unless...General spoilers for Season 10.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Series: a little less conversation [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673014
Comments: 59
Kudos: 208





	a little more bite (a little less bark)

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the first two parts of this series for this one to make any sense. 
> 
> This all started as a simple little one-shot, but your comments blew me away, so here we have a third part! Thank you truly to all those who've kudos'd and commented, each and every single one is appreciated, especially in our current climate.
> 
> General spoilers for Season 10. Title from Elvis' song.

Bobby Kahale loved his office. He had many memories of sitting on the floor of it as a young boy, playing with Lego as his father spoke on the phone with suppliers, clients, employees. As Bobby would construct elaborate sets with his toy bricks, his father would run the business, as easily charming his clients who were feeling antsy about completion dates to leaning on his less reliable suppliers to meet their promises on time. It was in this office that Bobby learned how to run _Kahale and Son Contractors_ , where he stepped into his father's shoes ten years ago upon the passing of his old man from an undetected heart defect.

To this day, he followed his father's ritual of keeping Fridays as office days. Planning for the week ahead, dealing with the paperwork for the week just past, sorting invoices and payroll, all the paperwork shuffling that he, as the boss, had to do. Whilst he loved getting his hands dirty and working alongside his men on the projects they had been hired to complete, Bobby also found peace working away at the solid oak desk that his grandfather had purchased a long time ago, his PA Mina bringing him coffee and gossip ever so often, sometimes his youngest daughter Leia playing with her Lego sets on the floor. Some Fridays would see Bobby on site, if a project was about to overrun and an extra pair of hands would make all the difference, but those sorts of Fridays were few and far between.

In the past ten years, Bobby had put his own stamp on the business his father had started, but like the office, the name, and the Friday rituals, Bobby still liked mailing physical invoices to his clients. Although he could save money on postage and personalised stationery by moving to emailed invoices, Bobby knew that it was much harder to ignore or forget a physical bill, and most Fridays Bobby could be found finalising, printing and signing off the week's invoices which he would then hand to Mina to stamp and post. He was just signing off the last few when he heard Mina gently tap on his door but he didn't look up.

"One more minute Mina, I'll have these with you, just got two or three left."

"Bobby, there's a gentleman here to see you."

That caused Bobby to raise his head and look at his PA/office manager of eight years. 

"Oh yeah? Who?" He didn't have any meetings scheduled and normally he went to see his clients at the site of their project, they rarely came to him. 

Mina didn't reply, just shifted out of the doorway and in the space of a breath Bobby wished he hadn't gotten out of bed today. 

"Commander McGarrett. What are you doing here?" And why was he here dressed to the nines in a bulletproof vest with a gun on his hip and around his thigh? This was a contractor's officer, for god's sake, not a battleground.

"Please, call me Steve." _Steve_. The stuff of his recent nightmares had sat his ass down in the chair opposite Bobby and wanted him to call him _Steve_. 

"Okay… Steve. I'm sorry, did we have an appointment?"

"Nah, I was in the area, just finished a raid, thought I'd drop by."

"How'd you know I was at the office?" Because if Commander McGarrett had called and Mina had told him where Bobby was without giving Bobby the chance to run and hide before he arrived, she definitely wasn't getting a bonus this year. 

"I just tracked your cell phone, easy peasy."

"Oh."

"Anyway, I don't want to keep you, I'm sure you have plenty to do."

"Okay…"

"So I dropped by Danny's house yesterday, it's looking great man, your boys have done a great job. And you did a great job getting rid of the fire ants, very thorough."

"Thank you, we appreciate it." Could this be it? Could this be McGarrett saying he could let Danny, his actual client, have his house back, and this foray into the contractor version of _The Twilight Zone_ could end? 

"But um, whilst I was there, I realised-" Of course it wasn't over, this was Bobby Kahale's life. But he needed to be brave now. He needed to be a man his daughters could look up to. 

"Commander McGarrett-,"

"Steve."

"Steve, please let me stop you there. I appreciate you want your friend's house to be in tip top shape before he moves back in-"

"Yes, exactly."

"But I really don't feel comfortable charging you for repairs that don't _really_ need to be made, or keeping my client away from his home longer than he needs to. He trusted me with his place, and he deserves to have it back. I can't keep delaying completion on it, it's not right."

"Bobby, I couldn't agree with you more."

Huh. That was easy… maybe this was it, maybe McGarrett had come in today to end this. Maybe this was all over. And wasn't it lucky, Bobby was fairly sure the McGarrett invoice was one of the ones on his desk he had been about to sign and send off. 

"Which is why I've thought of some essential changes that need to be made to Danny's house to make it secure enough for him to move back in."

Of course it wouldn't be this easy. God didn’t love him that much. "I'm sorry?" Maybe Bobby hadn’t heard right.

"I don't know how much you watch the news, Bobby, but Danny and I do a dangerous job and we've made a lot of enemies over the years, enemies who wouldn't think twice about attacking us in our homes. It's happened to me a few times. In fact, just a few months ago my dog sniffed out a bomb somebody had left in my garage."

Jesus Christ, what had Bobby done to deserve having to deal with the man sitting opposite him. Bobby hoped his mouth wasn't hanging open in horror but chance would be a fine thing. 

"... So whilst Danny's been living with me I can watch out for him, but as you rightly say, his house is all repaired, thanks to you, and he can move back in."

Yes, those are the words Bobby wanted to hear. "Right, yes, he can move back in." If this malarkey ended today, he was sending his kids over to Mike's and he was taking his wife for a night at the Hilton to celebrate.

"But it would be really unfortunate if he came to harm once he was back at his place because his house didn't have the appropriate security measures in place, wouldn't you agree?" The look that McGarrett shot him told Bobby that any disagreement would result in Bobby Kahale being added to the list of people McGarrett considered enemies. 

"Sure…?"

"I'm glad we see eye to eye on this, Bobby. It would be a shame if all your hard work goes to waste if Danny is attacked in his own house when it could have been prevented with just a few small changes."

"Yes, um that would be, ah, be a shame."

"So, now that you're on board, if you can let me know when you and your boys have space in your schedule, I'll get together a list of security measures I'd like you to install before you can give Danny his house back. I'll hook you up with some guys at Pearl who can supply you with some of the more specific materials you'll need." 

There were no words for left Bobby to say. A part of him wondered why McGarrett hadn't just gone straight to a security company to make these additions but Bobby was afraid to ask for the reasoning of a man whose mind had clearly been affected by his dangerous lifestyle. He could only nod and although it caused a big smile to appear on the face of the man sitting in front of him, it only caused his own heart to sink. 

He was going to be working on that effing house till the day he dropped dead, he just knew it.

At least this time the excuse for delaying completing wasn't a pest problem, he fucking hated those fire ants.

"Excellent. Mahalo, brah, it's been a pleasure doing business with you." McGarrett stood up and reached his hand out for Bobby to shake.

"Pleasure's all mine," Bobby mumbled, ever the polite professional that his father had demanded him to be. 

"And don't mention this to Danny? I want it to be a surprise. Early Christmas present and all that."

Christmas was nine months away. "Yeah sure, my lips are sealed." As if he had a choice in the matter.

"Great, thanks man, appreciate it. See ya." With a quick nod, McGarrett left the office but whereas Bobby would normally walk any visitor to the front door, all he could do in this very moment was cover his face with his hands, eyes pressed close. Maybe if he wished hard enough, he would wake up in bed and this would all just be a vivid dream. 

"Boss?" Mina's voice carried over from the doorway of his office. "You okay?"

Bobby sighed. This was reality, this was his life. Dropping his hands away from his face, he cast Mina a look of utter despair.

"You ever wonder if you were a bad person in a previous life and all that karma is now coming to bite you in the ass?"

"Boss, I'm Catholic, not Hindu."

"So that's a no, then?"

"That's a no. But you know what I wouldn't say no to?"

"What?"

"That man who just left biting me on the ass. Phew, did you see those guns? And I don't just mean the one on his hip. Do you know if he is single?"

"Leave. Now."

The sound of Mina's laughter drifting further away as she returned to her desk served as the soundtrack to Bobby opening his bottom desk drawer and taking out a glass and the bottle of whiskey he’d been sent by McGarrett. The guy was crazy, but at least he knew his liquor.

X

"So, I owe you an apology."

"Danny Williams, apologising? What for? And hey, pass me those dishes, will ya? I'll rinse, you dry. Make yourself useful if you're gonna plant your ass on the counter."

"I accidentally opened some of your mail this morning; I thought it was for me."

"That it? You've spent years insulting everything about me, but this is what you're gonna apologize for?"

"Yup."

"You know that's a federal crime, right? Opening up somebody's mail?"

"Yes, I'm a cop, I do know that."

"Well, I'm in a gracious mood, so you're forgiven."

"Thank you. Wanna know what was in the mail?"

"Sure, Postman Pat, tell me what was in my mail, that you opened, without permission."

"It was an invoice from Kahale and Son Contractors. See, I saw their logo on the envelope, thought it was for me. But turns out it was for you. You owe them $3000 for fixing my roof and fire ant problem, babe. And I don't think I even want to know what it means by security measures."

"Danny…"

"Don't Danny me. I can't believe you went behind my back like this."

"It isn't what it looks like-"

"Oh yeah? So it isn't my friend paying my contractor to fix my shit because he doesn't have the balls to tell me to get out of his house?"

"Danny, no! How can you think that?"

"How can I think that? My contractor sending a bill for my fucking house to you instead of me makes me think that."

"I swear, Danny, I'm not trying to get you to leave. I told you before, you can stay as long as you want."

"Oh yeah? Then what is it? Pity? You think I can't afford to fix up my own damn house, I need you to swoop in and pay for it? What, living at yours for the past few months isn't enough to make me feel like a charity case, you gotta throw in a new roof on top to really rub it in?"

"Danny, stop, you know that's not it."

"Fine. Explain it to me then, I'm all ears."

X

"- yes sweetie, of course I'll play Lego with you when I get home," Bobby promised his youngest as he swivelled around in his desk chair, his back to the rest of the office. A knock on his door brought his attention back to the fact that it was still a work day and he couldn't spend hours just chatting on the phone with his kid when he could just finish up his work first and then head home. "Honey, daddy's gotta go, but you clean up your room and when I get home, we'll play, okay? Okay, love you, bye sweetie."

Hitting the end call button on his phone, Bobby started turning back towards his desk. 

"Sorry Mina, that was _Jesus Christ_."

"Wow, who's your provider? I can barely get signal sometimes but you've got a connection to the kingdom of heaven, I'm very impressed."

There, in the doorway, stood the reason why his doctor just two days had told him he needed to lay off the salty stuff if he wanted his blood pressure back down to the normal range. As if food was to be blamed for his recent foray into hypertension.

"Da-Danny?" And if that wasn't enough, "Commander McGarrett?" Shit, was Bobby supposed to know who the other man was? Oh yeah no they got introduced at Kamekona's. "What brings you both here?" 

Both. Together. In his office. Bobby really needed to go to church more, this was clearly an act of divine retribution.

"Well," Danny said as he sat down in one of the chairs opposite Bobby's desk, McGarrett taking the other. "Long story short, I found the invoice that you sent McGoof here." 

Oh fuck. He was a dead man. McGarrett was going to garrotte him when he walked out to his car later. Or maybe a quick bullet was more his style. 

He really shouldn't have watched American Sniper over the weekend. 

His panic must have shown on his face as Danny didn't wait for him to say anything before he added, "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. In fact, Steve here has something he would like to say to you. Right, Steve?" 

Confused, Bobby turned to look fully at the man who, for once, was not exuding danger and sheer masculine power just by existing. Or raw sexual energy, if you asked his PA, which Bobby never did but that didn't stop her from waxing rhapsodic about the man ever since his visit a week ago. Instead, he even appeared a touch uncomfortable as he sat hunched, arms crossed in front of his chest, his six-foot figure dwarfing the comfy chair.

"Yeah um, I'm here to apologize."

"Apologize?" Bobby repeated.

"Yeah, Danny here kinda lost his shit a bit when he found out I'd come to you and asked-"

"Forced."

" _Highly encouraged_ , shall we say, you doing extra work on Danny's house, at my request."

"Keep going, come on."

"Will you let me finish? Anyway, Danny insisted we drop by and that I apologise for any inconvenience I may have caused you, and to say thank you for doing such a great job on his house, that's all."

"Yeah, you actually need to say sorry, babe."

"I did say sorry."

"No, you simply narrated the sequence of events leading up this moment, you haven't actually apologised."

"Yes I have! Why don't we ask Bobby, hm? Bobby, did I, or did I not, just apologize?"

Bobby, who in the last few minutes knew what it felt like to referee a tennis match, flinched as McGarrett's eyes pinned him in place. "Um…" 

"Don't ask him! He is petrified of you, look at his face! You've traumatised my contractor with your caveman methods."

"Have not!"

"Have to!"

"Gentlemen!" Bobby interjected, channeling his parental side when faced with two armed men going at each other like children. "I'm confused." 

"Right, sorry, let me explain. Basically, Steve here didn't know how to tell me he loves me from my head to my toes and that he would like me to move in with him permanently, hence why he came up with the genius plan to get you to delay completion on my house so I would stay longer. Not that I was in any hurry to leave, but this guy is incapable of reading signals unless they're in semaphore." 

"Um okay." So all this stress over McGarrett wanting a housemate but not knowing how to ask? 

"Anyway, I haven't been this guy's partner for ten years to not know that his way of dealing with people when he wants something can be a bit… traumatic."

"You're exaggerating Danny, Bobby and I had a few business conversations, there was nothing traumatic about it."

"Oh yeah?" Danny turned his head fully to the side so he could look at his partner, and Bobby was given an unobstructed, high-definition view of a purple and red mark on the man's neck, just about hidden by the collar of his shirt. 

Oh. All this was over wanting to be _roommates_ then, not housemates. 

His mother always said it was never worth getting in between two people who had the hots for each other. Bobby had thought that lesson was just for high school, but turns out his mother's lessons were timeless, and she hadn’t raised a fool. 

Bobby had to hide his grin behind his hand as he relaxed back in the chair, his mind reframing all of his interactions with both men with this new information. No wonder McGarrett kept on finding new things to cause a delay. No wonder Danny wasn’t in a rush to get his house back. All was now clear, and yes, Mina would be disappointed that the new man of her dreams wasn’t single but he couldn’t wait to tell Stacy. Her rom-coms had nothing on this. 

"Yeah," McGarrett replied to his partner and Bobby tuned back into the conversation, which now sounded so similar to the bickering that he and Stacy engaged in all the time, and they’d been married over fifteen years. "Bobby and I chatted a few times, he did a great job, got paid, I got what I wanted. Sounds about perfect to me."

"Okay. Let me ask one final question then." Bobby jerked his eyes away from the hickey as blue eyes fixed on him. "Bobby, were you, or were you not, hiding from McGarrett the day we came for lunch at Kamekona's truck?"

His mother didn't raise a liar.   
  
X

"See? That wasn't too bad, was it?"

"That was humiliating. I just spoke to him a few times. I never threatened him, I swear to God. I didn't know he was scared of me."

"I know babe, and whilst we all know you're a half baked chocolate chip cookie on the inside, other people just see the lean, mean, killing machine on the outside, especially when you're trying to have your way."

"Yeah, I guess…"

"Relax babe, it's actually one of my top three favourite things about you."

"Oh yeah? What are the other two?"

"You'll find out. Come on, we've got places to be."

"Where we going now?"

"Your bedroom. Ten years I've been coming to your house, but only a few days to your bedroom, we're gonna make up for lost time."

"I'll drive."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm considering a fourth part, the missing scene from when Danny finds out, do let me know if you'd fancy it. Might be good to get it out there before the finale breaks all our hearts. 
> 
> Comments continue to be love in word form!


End file.
